'Byelections are strange': Political professor says Sask. NDP victory not worth analyzing

The Saskatoon-Meewasin byelection was expected to be a tight race — based on the past election results where the former NDP leader won by a mere five per cent against the Sask. Party.

Instead, it was a quick sweep for NDP’s Nathaniel Teed.

Teed secured 56 per cent of the vote; the Sask. Party trailed behind with 37 per cent.

“Byelections are strange,” Daniel Westlake, a University of Saskatchewan political studies professor, told CTV News.

Westlake said byelections don’t paint a genuine picture of what’s overall happing in the province because there’s typically a lower voter turnout.

But in this case, Westlake said it could be the NDP wanted the win more.

“A theoretical possibility here is that you've got an NDP that's really concerned about losing, and the Sask. Party that’s fairly comfortable. So the NDP makes an effort to get their voters out and the Sask. Party does not produce results like we saw,” Westlake said.

“But it's very hard to predict byelections and it's very hard to draw conclusions from them.”

Premier Scott Moe said he would have liked to see more Sask. Party votes.

“We obviously wanted it to be closer. This is a difficult seat,” he said, standing beside candidate Kim Groff.

The Saskatoon-Meewasin byelection saw significantly fewer people at the polls, with 4,627 ballots counted so far — that’s a drop from the provincial election where 7,221 people voted.

Mail-in ballots still need to be counted on Wednesday and on Oct. 8, according to Elections Saskatchewan.